A goal of many modern long haul optical transport systems is to provide for the efficient transmission of large volumes of voice traffic and data traffic over trans-continental distances at low costs. Various methods of achieving these goals include time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). In time division multiplexed systems, data streams comprised of short pulses of light are interleaved in the time domain to achieve high spectral efficiency, high data rate transport. In wavelength division multiplexed systems, data streams comprised of short pulses of light of different carrier frequencies, or equivalently wavelength, are co-propagate in the same fiber to achieve high spectral efficiency, high data rate transport.
The transmission medium of these systems is typically optical fiber. In addition there is a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter typically includes a semiconductor diode laser, and supporting electronics. The laser may be directly modulated with a data train with an advantage of low cost, and a disadvantage of low reach and capacity performance. An external modulation device may also be used with an advantage of higher performance, and a disadvantage of high cost. After binary modulation, a high bit may be transmitted as an optical signal level with more power than the optical signal level in a low bit. Often, the optical signal level in a low bit is engineered to be equal to, or approximately equal to zero optical power. In addition to binary modulation, the data can be transmitted with multiple levels, although in current optical transport systems, a two level binary modulation scheme is predominantly employed.
Typical long haul optical transport dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) systems transmit 40 to 80 10 Gbps (gigabit per second) channels across distances of 1000 to 3000 kilometers (km) in a single 35 nanometer (nm) band of optical spectrum. A duplex optical transport system is one in which traffic is both transmitted and received between parties at opposite end of the link. In current DWDM long haul transport systems transmitters, different channels operating at distinct carrier frequencies are multiplexed onto one fiber using a multiplexer. Such multiplexers may be implemented using array waveguide (AWG) technology or thin film technology, or a variety of other technologies. After multiplexing, the optical signals are coupled into the transport fiber for transmission to the receiving end of the link.
At the receiving end of the link, the optical channels are de-multiplexed using a de-multiplexer. Such de-multiplexers may be implemented using array waveguide (AWG) technology or thin film technology, or a variety of other technologies. Each channel is then optically coupled to separate optical receivers. The optical receiver is typically comprised of a semiconductor photodetector and accompanying electronics.
The total link distance in today's optical transport systems may be two different cities separated by continental distances, from 1000 km to 6000 km, for example. To successfully bridge these distances with sufficient optical signal power relative to noise, the total fiber distance is separated into fiber spans, and the optical signal is periodically amplified using an in-line optical amplifier after each fiber span. Typical fiber span distances between optical amplifiers are 50-100 km. Thus, for example, thirty 100 km spans would be used to transmit optical signals between points 3000 km apart. Examples of in-line optical amplifiers include erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), lumped Raman amplifiers and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs).
A duplex optical transport system is one in which voice and data traffic are transmitted and received between parties at opposite ends of the link. There are several architectures that support duplex operation in fiber optical transport systems. Each suffers from limitations.
For example, it is known in the art to use a pair of fiber strands to support duplex operation. One fiber strand of the fiber pair supports traffic flow from a first city to a second city while the second strand of the fiber pair supports traffic flow from a second city to a first city. Each strand is comprised of separate optical amplifiers. At low channel counts, this configuration suffers from a limitation in that the system still demands a large number of optical amplifiers that could potentially be twice the amount needed.
In a conventional two-fiber optical transport system, data is sent from location A to location Z and vice versa using two different fibers. This requires in-line optical amplifiers, dispersion compensation modules (DCMs), dynamic gain equalizers (DGE) and other equipment for each transmission direction.
A conventional single-fiber transport system carries the two directions of data traffic in both directions over the same fiber, using different wavelengths for the two directions. However, the signals from different directions are separated at amplifier sites and amplified by separate amplifiers. Also, dispersion compensation and power equalization are performed separately for each direction. While the transmission capacity of this one-fiber system is reduced by a factor of one half as compared to the two-fiber system, only the required amount of fiber is reduced, while the amount of transmission equipment stays the same or is even increased due to the required splitting and combining modules.
In a conventional single-fiber system, signals in both traffic directions share one fiber, as opposed to traveling on a fiber pair in a two-fiber system. At the in-line amplifier (ILA) sites, the different traffic directions are typically separated and independently amplified. An additional feature of the single-fiber transport system of this disclosure is the use of a single optical amplifier and DCM for both traffic directions. Additionally, the dynamic gain equalizers (DGEs) can be shared between the traffic directions. This enables cost savings on the equipment side, as the amount of modules (EDFAs, DCMs, DGEs) is virtually reduced by a factor of 2. These cost savings are realized for the first installed channel. In addition, the use of a single fiber provides operational cost savings.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,742,416 and 5,812,306 Mizrahi teaches a single fiber bidirectional WDM optical communication system with bi-directional optical amplifiers, where the two traffic directions travel in opposite directions through the optical amplifier. The use of a bi-directional optical amplifier, for example, a bi-directional EDFA to support duplex operation using a single strand of optical fiber potentially saves the cost of one amplifier at each ILA site. A limitation of this prior art implementation is that the bidirectional EDFA may begin to lase in addition to providing amplification. These oscillations and instabilities defeat the goal of data transmission. Keeping the bi-directional EDFA from lasing typically carries additional engineering and financial costs, and ultimately limits the reach and capacity of the transport system. It is desirable to use a single amplifier to support duplex operation without the penalties of a bi-directional EDFA.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,124, Baker teaches a device which uses a four-port wavelength division multiplexing filter and a single erbium doped optical amplifier to implement a dual wavelength bidirectional optical amplifier module. However, the limitation of this prior art implementation is that there is no power balance between incoming and outgoing signals, no provision for optical add/drop multiplexers and no implementation or tuning of dispersion compensation modules.